I just started geocaching last year.  I'm probably not what most would 
call a "serious" cacher...I don't go out every day, or week, or 
sometimes even month.  I have small children, so it's not always the 
easiest thing to just grab and go.  That said, we've had a number of 
glorious weekends spent up in the high country.  Sometimes we do an 
overnight trip.  More often we'll pack up the car early with a picnic 
lunch, get to Payson in time for breakfast, cache to our hearts content, 
stop at whatever beautiful place the caches lead us when we're hungry, 
cache until the kids can't go anymore (remember, they're little!), stop 
for dinner, get the kids in PJs and drive home.  It is the best family 
time we ever have, and the kids have gained an appreciation for the 
beauty of nature that they would never have gotten otherwise.  Just this 
weekend we drove up to Payson and my 5-year-old kept commenting on the 
view.  How many little kids care about a view these days?  Caching 
taught him that.  Yes, they (and I!) love the thrill of the hunt, and 
them moreso the prizes, but the experience together is the real 
"treasure", IMO.

I didn't find out about HR until a couple of days before it happened 
last year, so I couldn't get it together to go.  I remember thinking how 
cool it sounded.  I kept looking for a price on the website, and didn't 
find one.  I just couldn't fathom that it was free.  My next thought was 
that it must be really lame (although it didn't sound like it).  The 
more I heard and read, the more I realized that it was just a really 
awesome even put on by people taking caching to the extreme.  And I felt 
guilty for not even having a cache yet (still don't, but I'm working on 
some ideas).  I told my husband that I wanted to do the event this year.

This year comes around and I see a fee.  And I think, "oh, man, with the 
time, effort, and $$$ it must take to put this thing on, I'm not going 
to be able to afford it this year".  Times are hard at work; I'm in 
danger of losing my job.  Then I see the fee.  If I pre-register, it 
will cost me $35 for my family of four.  That's nothing.  I spend that 
on one night at a sit-down restaurant.  I spend that on *gas* driving up 
to the high country (if I take my truck).  I think the fee is affordable 
and reasonable, and regardless of the actual cost involved to put on the 
event (and I know there is one), I think it's fair to compensate a 
modest amount  for what I know must be a considerable amount of time 
involved in setting up the event.  I know how much time it takes me just 
to prepare to get a family of four away for an overnight trip; so I know 
many more hours than that go onto the people who put on HR.

But, I'm not a serious cacher.  I'm just a mom with a couple of kids who 
enjoys the opportunity to get out with her family for an (increasingly 
rare) form of non-electronic entertainment.

-Lisa
"PoledraDog"
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